With the new COVID-19 Pandemic during the continuous fast food epidemic, why should fast food restaurants stay open when they put minorities at a greater risk?

By. Victoria Lee-Brewer

African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be obese as Public health problems and poverty becomes more prevalent in minority communities than their counterparts. Fast food causes underlying conditions such as, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. People in the low-income neighborhoods have 2.5 times more exposure to fast-food restaurants than those living in the most affluent neighborhoods (Block, 2007).  

President Nixon set out programs that provided federal funding to fast food franchises, by assisting Black-Owned businesses in serving fast food through promotion of spiritual entrepreneurship, in 1968. The federal subsidization of chains promoted Black Capitalism, making a group of Black Entrepreneurs wealthy, but was a boon to introduce the fast food industry to other markers. The Minority Business Enterprise in 1969, extended $65 million in federal money to expand franchises into low income neighborhoods. By using programs such as, The Small Business Administration gave out thousands of loans in the early 1970s to Black Entrepreneurs …this resulted an increase from 405 minority franchise in 1969 to 2,453 in 1973. The government saw the franchisee system used policies by creating programs with a set agenda on what kind of businesses they wanted to open the community to (Holleran, 2017). 

As the access to Fast Food began to increase in neighborhoods the decrease in healthier foods became prevalent, as it became harder to access. The data down below shows how neighborhoods with 80% Black residents have 2.4 fast food restaurants per square mile verse their counterparts, 1.5 restaurant per mile with neighborhoods, housing only 20% of Minorities. Therefore, predominantly Black neighborhoods are exposed 6 times more than white neighborhoods (Block, 2007). 

A weight-inclusive registered dietitian in New York, Fatima Fakhoury reported that a colleague in Cornell’s surgical intensive-care unit found every one of her 60 ventilated patients in one day, was obese (Miller, 2020). Which is a result of systematical racism, the Brox is 62% full of fast food restaurants as children diabetes is skyrocketing. The fast food market was created by cooperation’s to increase market share (Holleran, 2017). A report made by the CDC on April 8th, found 48.3% off patients across the U.S, were obese and 59% of the patients were 18 to 49 years old who were hospitalized. Which is alarming considering that 20 to 39-year old of the U.S is obese. Reports in U.K show that 127 of 196 coronavirus patients in the intensive care unit, were obese. The rising obesity levels across the U.S was warned by public health researches for decades, fueled by poverty and lack of access to healthcare. Consequently, shown in the rise in rates of Americans with heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension caused by obesity, connected to serious COVID-19 complications.  COVID-19 may worsen because viruses thrive on compromised immune systems, weaken the body’s anti-inflammatory response, higher blood glucose levels, and lung function which are common side effects of obesity (Miller, 2020). 

Fast food restaurants in the end do more hurt long-term health wise than good, which is why they shouldn’t be open. In order to protect themselves, obese people need to practice the same CDC guidelines and same State restrictions as everyone else. Eating a healthy diet with some outdoor exercising, prioritizing sleep, and stress management will help you slow the risk of COVID-19. What you should not do is overly diet and exercise, which can weaken the immune system (Miller, 2020). 

WORK CITED 

Holleran, Max. “How Fast Food Chains Supersized Inequality.” The New Republic, 2 Aug. 2017, newrepublic.com/article/144168/fast-food-chains-supersized-inequality. 

Block, James P. “Fast Food, Race/Ethnicity, and Income.” Redirecting, 1 Oct. 2004, doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.06.007. 

Miller, Anna Medaris. “Doctors Are Bracing for the Coronavirus Pandemic to Meet America’s Obesity Epidemic. Some Experts Worry the Stigma Could Be Dangerous by Itself.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 10 Apr. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/americas-obesity-epidemic-may-make-the-coronavirus-pandemic-worse-2020-4.